1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charged particle lithography system, in particular to a maskless charged particle system, to a sensor therefore, in particular for determining charged particle beam properties, to a converter element therefore, as well as to a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Charged-particle beamlet lithography systems make use of a plurality of charged particle beamlets to transfer a pattern onto the surface of a target. The beamlets may write the pattern by being scanned over the target surface while their trajectory may be controllably blocked so as to create a beamlet that can be turned on or off. Blocking may be established by electrostatic deflection of beamlets on a blocking surface. Additionally, or alternatively, the size and shape of the beamlets may be adapted along the trajectory. Deflection, shaping and/or size adaptation may be executed by one or more electron optical components like for example an aperture array, an array of electrostatic deflectors and/or beamlet blankers. In order to transfer a pattern onto the target surface, the controllable blocking of beamlets in combination with their movement over the target surface is performed in accordance with modulation information. An example of a multiple charged-particle beamlet lithography system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,958,804, which disclosure is herewith incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Such lithography systems can have very large numbers of beamlets, i.e. in the order of 10,000 or higher, for example 13,000. Future designs even envisage numbers in the order of 1,000,000 beamlets. It is a general aim for current electron beam lithography systems to be able to pattern a target surface in high-resolution, with some applications being capable of imaging patterns with a critical dimension of well below 100 nm feature sizes.
For such multiple beamlet, high-resolution lithography systems to be commercially viable it is important that the position of each one of the charged particle beamlets is precisely known and controlled. Additionally, knowledge and control of spot size and shape and intensity of the beamlets at the target surface are also of importance. Due to various circumstances, such as manufacturing tolerances and thermal drift, such beamlet characteristics may however deviate from their expected and desired characteristics, which may render these deviating beamlets invalid for accurate patterning.
Such deviations may include, among other things, a deviation in position, a deviation in spot size as exposed on the target surface and/or a deviation in beamlet intensity. Deviating beamlets may severely affect the quality of the pattern to be written. It is therefore desirable to detect these deviations so that corrective measures may be taken.
In conventional lithography systems, the position of each beamlet is determined by frequent measurement of the beamlet position. With knowledge of the beamlet position the beamlet can be shifted to the correct position. For accurate writing it is beneficial to determine the beamlet position within a distance in the order of a few nanometers.
Known beamlet position calibration methods generally comprise at least three steps: a measuring step in which the position of the beamlet is measured, a calculating step in which the measured position of the beamlet is compared to the desired expected position of that beamlet, and a compensation step in which the difference between the measured position and the desired position is compensated for. Compensation may be performed either in the software or in the hardware of the lithography system.
In advanced charged particle beamlet lithography systems, besides position control, beamlet spot size control may be of equal importance. Desired specifications for spot size measurements include determination of beamlet spot sizes in the range of 30 nm to 150 nm; accuracy of spot size measurements with 3 sigma value smaller than 5 nm; and a reproducibility of such spot size measurements within a single sensor with 3 sigma value smaller than 5 nm.
It is desirable to determine characteristics like beamlet position and/or beamlet spot size during operation of a lithography system to allow for early position and/or spot size calibration to improve the target surface patterning accuracy. In order to limit negative effects on throughput, i.e. the number of target surfaces that can be patterned within a predetermined period of time, it is desirable that the method of measuring the characteristics of the charged particle beamlets can be carried out within a limited period of time without sacrificing accuracy.
A sensor for measuring properties of a large number of charged-particle beamlets, in particular for charged particle beamlets used in a lithography system, is described in US published patent application 2007/057204 assigned to the present applicant, the content of which is herewith incorporated by reference in its entirety.
US 2007/057204 describes a sensor and method in which charged-particle beamlets are converted into light beams, using a converter element such as a fluorescent screen or a doped YAG material. Subsequently, the light beams are detected by an array of light sensitive detectors such as diodes, CCD or CMOS devices. A relatively fast measurement can be achieved by reading out a large number of light sensitive detectors in a single operation. Additionally the sensor structure, in particular the array of light detectors, enables a very small pitch of a multiplicity of beams to be measured without the necessity of unduly large structural measures in the region of the stage part of a lithography system.
However, in view of the continuously increasing demands of the industry regarding small dimensions without loss of throughput, there remains a need to provide even more accurate devices and techniques for measurement of beamlet properties in lithography systems, particularly in lithography machines comprising a large number of charged-particle beamlets that are designed to offer a high throughput.